Retired Detroit firefighter: "My pension is what I was promised"

[Heywood J]

90. Never think that. It's absolutely untrue.

Last edited Sun Jul 21, 2013, 10:30 PM - Edit history (1)

This one comes to mind because it hits a little closer to home for me. I have family affected by all of this.

http://www.fasken.com/september2008_slater_steel_bulletin/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/retirement-dreams-under-siege/article4292981/?page=all
http://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/2008/12/06/what_retirement.html

The shock, he says, was discovering at age 49 that nearly a third of the funds required to back his pension were not there.

"We were always told for years the pensions were stable; they were monitored by the government. No one (in the mill) ever dreamed our pension plan was as underfunded as it was."

Five years, a stint of unemployment and a couple of jobs later, Ellsworth is back with a small crew at his old mill, the same mill where his father and uncle once worked.
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But Ellsworth earns a third less pay per hour; his new pension plan offers no guarantee of lifetime income; and, because of the large reduction to his Slater pension and the lack of inflation protection, he now plans to work to age 65, if his health holds out.

His former workmate Mike Bibeau is working two jobs, as a cleaner at a school and as Christmas staff at a Sears Canada store. "They gave me a reduced amount (of pension) but it wasn't enough to retire on. So I had to find work," he says.

Also, never forget Nortel. I know two people whose families are STILL caught up in that today.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/nortel-pensioners-vow-to-keep-fighting/article7881786/

Nortel Networks Corp. retirees, who saw their pensions slashed after the onetime telecom giant went into bankruptcy protection, are vowing to keep fighting the company’s bondholders after talks on dividing Nortel’s remaining assets collapsed.

Since insolvency proceedings began in 2009, Nortel has spent $755-million on lawyers and consultants. It’s a number that outrages its Canadian retirees, whose pensions were reduced by up to 50 per cent, and disabled former employees, who were left with just 35 per cent of their benefits.

In a press release from the Canadian retirees’ committee, 77-year-old Frank Mills, who worked at Nortel for 34 years, puts the pensioners’ resolve in stark terms: “I’d rather end up on welfare than give our hard-earned assets to these vultures.”

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/after-the-verdict-what-s-next-for-nortel-pensioners-1.1114415
http://www.bramptonguardian.com/blogs/post/3234829-nortel-pensioners-the-final-straw/
http://www.thestar.com/business/2011/07/15/nortel_pensioners_slammed_with_pension_cuts_claw_backs.html

Days after a patent sale generated $4.5 billion (U.S.) for creditors of insolvent Nortel Networks, its retirees are facing a huge cut in pension income, along with a clawback of benefits paid out over the past 10 months.